(a) All reasonable expenses incurred by or on behalf of the department for any investigation of a person or business organization in connection with an initial application or contract, the application for transfer of ownership in whole or in part of an existing licensed facility, the assignment of an existing contract, or the addition of or change in any member of a board of directors, officer, shareholder or bondholder of any such person or business organization, shall be paid to the department by the person or business organization under investigation. All funds received by the department under the provisions of this subsection shall be paid into the General Fund.

(b) Each such person or business organization shall be billed for such expenses on a quarterly basis or at the conclusion of the investigation, as determined by the commissioner. Failure on the part of the person or business organization to remit payment within fifteen days after receipt of an invoice from the department shall constitute grounds to refuse to grant approval of the request of the person or business organization for which such investigation was undertaken, or in the case of a licensee, failure to remit payment within fifteen days shall, in addition, constitute grounds for the commissioner: (1) To suspend or revoke such license; (2) to impose a fine of not more than two thousand five hundred dollars or, if the licensee is licensed to conduct a meeting or operate an off-track betting system under subsection (a) of section 12-575, a fine of not more than seventy-five thousand dollars; (3) to rescind the applicable contract; or (4) to impose any combination of such penalties.

(P.A. 77-543, S. 4, 7; P.A. 79-404, S. 35, 45; P.A. 80-133, S. 8, 10; P.A. 11-51, S. 182; P.A. 13-299, S. 81.)

History: P.A. 79-404 substituted “division” for “commission”; P.A. 80-133 extended applicability to persons, allowed billing at conclusion of investigation and added provisions for specific penalties if licensee fails to remit payment within fifteen-day period allotted for payment; pursuant to P.A. 11-51, “executive director” and “division” were changed editorially by the Revisors to “commissioner” and “department”, respectively, effective July 1, 2011; P.A. 13-299 amended Subsec. (b) to substitute “commissioner” for “licensing authority”, to delete reference to Gaming Policy Board imposing fines, to add provision re licenses to conduct meeting or operate off-track betting system, and to make technical changes, effective July 1, 2013.